Ujala - The Supreme Whitener

In the early 21st century, Jyothi launched a number of different products in the FMCG category. In 2000, it launched 'Exo,' a dish washing bar and soon extended it to a dish washing scrub. The company entered the mosquito repellent market in 2001, with the brand 'Maxo' coils. It planned to extend this brand to a liquid vaporizer in the future. In the same year, Jyothi entered the incense stick market through the 'Maya' brand. While Exo was made available only in a few southern states, Maxo and Maya were marketed across the country. Maxo managed to gain a 20% share of the market in its category, but the performance of Maya and Exo was reportedly much below Jyothi's expectations.

In line with its diversification plans, Jyothi took over Tata Chemicals' detergent unit in Pithampur, Madhya Pradesh, for about Rs 40 million in 2001. After this, it was rumored that Jyothi intended to take over Tata Chemicals' 'Shudh' brand of detergent. Meanwhile, undeterred by the lackluster performance of its recent launches, Jyothi entered the very competitive bathing soaps segment with Jeeva, an Ayurvedic soap in 2001.¹² As with Ujala, the new brands were promoted vigorously. For Jeeva, Jyothi turned to celebrity endorsement for the first time, using Simran, a popular South-Indian movie star.